Chapter 146 Second Round Spurs

   The next morning, the Suns boarded the plane.

   "By the way, Cedric, who won the other two games yesterday?"

  Get on the plane, Pharaoh's seat is in the middle, next to Ceballos, he asked.

   "The Sonics won the Jazz and the two teams were tied. The Knicks won the Pacers and entered the second round," Ceballos said.

   "Tonight, the Spurs play the Blazers, and we will touch the Spurs most of the time." Ceballos said.

   "Just touch it, what are you afraid of? I also think it will be the softie David Robin. I heard that he is the softest of the three super centers. I think it is right." He said.

   For the Suns to eliminate the Lakers, there is not much discussion between the media and fans, because the strength and lineup of the two sides are very different.

   Today's sports news mainly focuses on the SuperSonics and Jazz, as well as the Spurs and Trail Blazers, guessing who will reach the second round.

   Back in Phoenix, after returning home in the afternoon, Wang Tiejun slept again. When he woke up, it was almost dark, and Zhang Lili had already made dinner.

   "Tie Jun, are you tired?" Lao Zhang asked.

   "It's okay, better than when I hit the rookie wall in March, not so tired." He said.

   "You still have two months left to play, but you haven't trained systematically for a long time, and your physical reserves are not enough." Lao Zhang said.

   "Brother Zhang, I hit 52% in this series, what do you think?" he asked.

   "Yes, compared to the first-round series of the three super centers, your efficiency is no worse than theirs, or even a little higher." Lao Zhang said.

Nodding his head, he said thoughtfully: "I can actually add a few more strong shots to the basket, but I'm just worried that my physical fitness will not keep up. That Jordan can score 40 to 50 points in a game, and my points are too few. "

   "Don't, Tie Jun, it's pretty good now."

Lao Zhang hurriedly stopped and said, "When I watched TNT's live broadcast, the two commentators analyzed it, and they also believed that you must control the number of shots at the basket, and control it from the regular season, so as to control your physical fitness. , can play well throughout the season.

   If you want to improve efficiency, it is also based on physical control. You don't need to score with Jordan at all. He is a shooting guard and is responsible for scoring. You are a center and have different responsibilities. The physical consumption of the center is far greater than that of the guard.

Your offensive efficiency is already good. What you need to improve now is your ability to protect the basket, assist defense, and further strengthen your rebounding ability. In terms of offense, you can practice your throwing and shooting a little better, as well as the basket. The pace also needs to be strengthened, which will allow you to play with less effort. "

   In the evening, the two watched the Spurs game.

  97:100, the Spurs eliminated the Blazers 3-1 and advanced to the second round.

As soon as the game was over, Barkley called and shouted: "Old K, have you watched the Spurs game? We play the Spurs in the second round, and David Robinson will rely on you. Don't worry, you were bumped, I I'll make it up for you, just don't stretch out your hands."

   "No problem, leave it to me, I'll kill him." He immediately patted his chest and assured.

   "Let go and **** him, this is the playoffs, and the one who should be on the elbow should be on the elbow." Barkley warned.

   "Yes, don't worry," he said.

   For the next two days, the Suns were on vacation, and the first round of games were all over.

  Western Second Round: Suns vs. Spurs, Sonics vs. Mosaic.

  East second round: Bulls vs Cavaliers, Knicks vs Hornets.

   On May 10th, the second round will start, the Knicks vs. Hornets in the east, and the Supersonics vs. Mosaic in the west.

   As a result, the Knicks defeated the Hornets. Super center Ewing scored 33 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 blocks. He made 14 of 28 shots, with a shooting rate of 50%, and performed well.

  If there are flaws, it is only one offensive rebound that is too few.

  The Hornets' rookie Mourning performed equally well. He made 10 of 21 shots, with a shooting rate of 47.6%. He scored 27 points, 13 rebounds, 4 blocks, and 5 offensive rebounds. The only flaw was 7 turnovers.

  Mourning's superhuman performance in the first round of the series also overshadowed Wang Tiejun's performance in the playoffs.

He scored 30+11 in the first game, 18+14 in the second, 14+8 in the third, and 33+7 in the fourth. He averaged 38 minutes per game, made 7.25 of 13.75 shots, and hit 52.7%. , 23.7 points and 10 rebounds, the data is far more than Wang Tiejun, but also exceeded his regular season performance.

  West, the Sonics beat Mosaic.

Super center Dameng Olajuwon scored 26 points, 16 rebounds, 4 assists, 5 blocks and 6 turnovers. In addition to many turnovers, he made only 8 of 22 shots, and his shooting percentage was only 36.4%, but his offensive rebounds were as high as 8. , reaching 50% of the horror.

   The biggest reason why the Supersonics can win against Mosaic is the bench lineup.

   Backup swingman Nate McMillan, he played only 16 minutes, scored two points from free throws, did not make a single shot, but contributed 10 assists, with an average of 1 assist per 1.6 minutes.

   Most of his assists were given to Eddie Johnson, another backup forward and swingman. This guy only played 23 minutes, felt hot, made 9 of 16 shots, and scored 20 points.

   And the main point guard Payton did not perform well, only sending 4 assists.

   Overall, the Sonics sent out 29 assists, while Mosaic had only 13, which is the main reason for the Sonics to win.

  11, match day.

   In addition to the Sun and Spurs, there are also the Bulls and Cavaliers in the East.

  The Spurs arrived in Phoenix yesterday, very low-key, and did not hold a press conference. At 2 o'clock in the afternoon, they came to the US West Arena for pre-game training. Before the training, he was interviewed by the media.

   "David, the Spurs were swept by the Suns in the first round last year, are you ready this year?" asked the Phoenix Sports reporter.

   "What to prepare?"

  Robinson's face collapsed, no matter how good his mental quality was, he couldn't maintain it.

   "Prepare to be swept again." The reporter said innocently.

   He snorted coldly, "Don't even think about it."

   After he finished speaking, he went to warm up and stopped giving interviews. The reporters could not be called back.

   At half past six, the Suns arrived at the arena.

   At this time, the Westside Arena was released, and fans began to enter.

  NBA now starts from the second round, and implements a best-of-seven system, a 22111 home and away game system, which is different from the best-of-five three-game system in the first round.

  The national broadcast rights to the second-round series between the Suns and the Spurs belong to ESPN, and the commentators are Winston Rollin and Carter Oldman.

   At 7:30, the arena was almost full. The atmosphere at the home court was very good. The buzzing noise was endless, and the mascot of the Suns, the gorilla, was also very excited and kept interacting with the fans.

   At this time, the starters of the two teams were also announced.

   Spurs: David Robinson, Antoine Kyle, Sean Elliott, Dale Ellis, Avery Johnson

  Sun: Wang Tiejun, Barkley, Ceballos, Dan Marley, Kevin Johnson

Winston Rollins analyzed: "Junior Avery Johnson served as the starting point guard in the first round of the Spurs, with 22 assists in four games and an average of 5.5 per game. There is a certain gap between him and Kevin Johnson in strength. .

But this guy's ability is more reflected in his ability to lead the team, and his style is daring to fight. Although he is an undrafted, in the Spurs' locker room, his status is not lower than that of David Robinson, even David Robinson. Even stronger, he's a true locker room leader for the Spurs. "

   Carter Oldman smiled and said: "Demon's character is the strongest, Ewing is too dull, and Robinson's character is too modest."

   "Damn modesty, I can't see where he is modest." In the home team's locker room, Wang Tiejun shouted while watching TV.

   "Fuck him, old K, this is our home court."

  Kevin Johnson raised his fist and roared: "We swept them last year, don't make them feel better this year."

   "Kill the Spurs!"

   Old Wang shouted immediately.

   "Kill the Spurs!"

The    locker room immediately roared, and the morale was even higher.

   At eight o'clock, the game starts.

  David Robinson jumped the ball better and the Spurs attacked.

   On the left wing, Robinson took the initiative to withdraw the ball.

   In the regular season, he suffered a lot in the strong confrontation with Wang Tiejun, so now try to avoid confrontation with him.

   And he's better at the basket than the back.

  Wang Tiejun also knew that he couldn't guard against the Admiral himself, so he adopted the strategy of guarding the penalty area first, and appropriately placed Robinson's jumper outside.

   Simply put, it is to try to let Robinson shoot jumpers outside, don't let him go in easily, reduce his overall efficiency, and don't care about the gain or loss of a ball.

   Probing step, Robinson took one step forward, Wang Tiejun quickly retreated, the former took back the probing step and made a jumper before the latter came up.

   "Sigh!"

  The water splashed and two points hit.

"One step away from the paint, this is a two-pointer. Robinson's near-two-point shooting rate is only 30.8%, which is the lowest among the three super centers, but his two-point shooting rate can reach 39.1%, which is better than Big Dream's 45 percent is lower, but higher than Ewing's 34.8 percent."

   On the ESPN live broadcast, Winston Rollins said several stats with familiarity.

   Returning to the offensive end, Wang Tiejun took a low position on the left flank.

  Robinson did not take top defense, the tonnage difference was 16 kg, he knew that he could not stand it, and that defense was too physical and wasted, so he adopted winding defense.

   This kind of defense was the first he used in Wang Tiejun, and he had the most experience.

   is to use continuous winding + small movements to interrupt the opponent's rhythm, and even irritate the opponent's emotions, so as to control the opponent.

   His left arm was entangled by his opponent, an elbow was slapped on his lower back from time to time, and a leg was inserted between his legs. From time to time, Wang Tiejun secretly pushed his knee.

   But he still stood firm and opened his right hand for the ball.

  Kevin Johnson gestured to pull away, then looked for an opportunity to pass the ball down.

After    received the ball, Wang Tiejun found that the Spurs were not double-teamed.

   This shows that the Spurs' defensive focus is on Barkley's side, or at the basket, as long as he shoots low on the left wing, he will not be double-teamed.

   "Boom! Boom!"

  Two consecutive hits by Tieshan completely knocked Robinson away. He stepped on the left waist of the paint area, then jumped sideways with one foot and threw a sideways hook.

  Robinson reacted very quickly and grabbed the jump to block again. He did jump faster, but he still couldn't block the sideways hook. After all, his arms were not that long and were separated from Wang Tiejun's body.

   "Sigh!"

  The water splashed, and the hook hit nearly two points.

  The two hit a ball each, and they played again after two rounds.

  The Spurs attacked, Robinson took a ball basket on the left wing, used a tentative step to retreat Wang Tiejun again, and then made a jumper.

  The difference from the last time is that this time he did not take back the tentative step, but took one step forward. When he saw the opponent retreating, he jumped out and shot.

   In this way, his shot position is closer to the basket, and he takes off against Wang Tiejun's body.

   Wang Tiejun, who had retreated from the defense, always maintained the posture of a bear step. He took a half step back and found that his opponent was jumping close to him. The muscles of his lower limbs oscillated at a high frequency, and he took off and blocked shots at a faster speed.

   In fact, his bullet speed did not increase, only the rhythm of his take-off was accelerated. The bear step can make his body respond faster.

  Robinson was about to shoot in the air when suddenly a big hand closed in front of him. He couldn't help but raise the angle of the shot. The ball slid over Wang Tiejun's fingertips and flew towards the basket.

   "Backboard!"

As soon as the    ball was released, he felt that something was wrong and shouted loudly.

   But it was too late, the ball was a little short, hit the basket and rebounded, and was taken by Wang Tiejun.

   "Beautiful defense! Old K defended the general's near-basket jumper..." the on-site commentator roared excitedly.

The Suns did not arrange fast break tactics, because David Robinson's speed is the fastest among the three super centers, comparable to top guards, but he suffers from fast breaks. Wang Tiejun can't keep up, so he steadily advances to the frontcourt and starts a positional battle. .

   Wang Tiejun got the ball this time.

   There was no dribble, no close ball, and the first time the iron mountain was hit with both feet still, only a little bit of the opponent's entanglement was loosened.

   At this time, his left foot did not move, and his right foot stepped into the paint area, making an upward breakthrough.

  Robinson moved up immediately and reacted quickly.

   But at this moment, he withdrew his right foot, made a gesture of getting up and hooking, and his right hand also raised.

When   Robinson saw it, he hurriedly retracted his left foot, which was moving upwards, and pounced on him.

   The next moment, his right foot went in again, and Tieshan broke out.

   "Boom!"

   The left shoulders of the two collided.

"Oops!"

  Robinson was knocked to the side, almost overturned, and the left foot he supported almost sprained, that is, his flexibility was good to avoid injury.

Wang Tiejun was only slightly stagnant. The huge difference in tonnage and the strong force of relying on the attack allowed him to maintain the acceleration. He killed Robinson in one step, and faced Antoine Kyle who was back to the defense. dunks.

"boom!"

   With the violent smashing of the basket, the West American Arena burst into cheers.

   "Di!"

   The referee's whistle blew, pointing at Antoine Kerr, the thug fouled, and a penalty was added.

   "Old K, good job!" Barkley ran over excitedly and shouted.

"Yes."

   He nodded, feeling that this attack was really good.

This is an attack that takes advantage of the characteristics of the bear step, that is, the feature of switching between hitting and moving at any time. It uses repeated false moves to make Robinson move, so as to knock off the opponent with a small hit force. This saves energy and does not foul.

   Next, he made a free throw and the Spurs attacked.

Fifteen seconds later, Robinson shot again.

It was still a tentative jumper. This time, he took the tentative step and then shot, but it seems that Old K expected that he would shoot like this, and the return defense was very fast. His shot was affected again, and he was far away from the basket, so he missed this shot. Two points.

   At this time, he realized that he still had to stay close to the basket and always shoot outside, so old K's defensive prediction would be very simple.

   After a minute, he used a tentative move again, and this time even if he saw Old K retreating, he firmly killed him in one step.

   "This guy is so fast!"

  Wang Tiejun turned around quickly, still half a step behind Robinson.

  Fortunately, Barkley implemented a weak-side assist defense and took a half-step to block in front of Robinson. The latter forced a shot and failed to hit.

  Wang Tiejun grabbed the basket and protected the backcourt rebound.

"David Robinson made 1 of 4 shots. Under the combination of Old K and Barkley, the shooting rate was low. But this is not surprising, his performance in the playoffs is like this, not tough enough, let's see him in the first The performance in the round series will tell."

   On the ESPN live broadcast, Winston Rollin's outspokenness did not save Robinson any face.

   Carter Oldman said with a smile: "Today the Suns are obviously working harder on the defensive end. Old K's single defense against Robinson was very successful."

   In the 7th minute of the first quarter, at 12:18, the Suns led by 6 points at home, and the Spurs called a timeout for the second time.

  The Spurs core David Robinson was in a sluggish state. After making 1 of 4 shots, he made two more shots and hit one. He made 2 of 6 shots, scored 4 points and 2 rebounds, and was replaced after a timeout.

  Wang Tiejun came off the stage, mainly to preserve his physical fitness.

   He also threw a hook from the back, missed, no more shots, a total of 2 of 3 shots, 1 of 1 free throw, and got 5 points and 3 rebounds.

   At the end of the first quarter, at 20:27, the Suns led by 7 points.

   (end of this chapter)